Example of book review on critical analysis

‘ Winter has settled down over the Divide again; the season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring. The birds have gone. The teeming life that goes on down in the long grass is exterminated. The prairie-dog keeps his hole. The rabbits run shivering from one frozen garden patch to another and are hard put to it to find frost-bitten cabbage-stalks. At night the coyotes roam the wintry waste, howling for food. The variegated fields are all one color now; the pastures, the stubble, the roads, the sky are the same leaden gray. The hedgerows and trees are scarcely perceptible against the bare earth, whose slaty hue they have taken on. The ground is frozen so hard that it bruises the foot to walk in the roads or in the ploughed fields. It is like an iron country, and the spirit is oppressed by its rigor and melancholy. One could easily believe that in that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness were extinct forever. Alexander had settled back in her own routine. There are weekly letters from Emil. Lou and Oscar she has not seen since Carl went away. To avoid awkward encounters in the presence of curious spectators, she has stopped going to the Norwegian Church and drives up to the Reform Church at Hanover, or goes with Marie Shabata to the Catholic Church, locally known as ” the French Church.” She has not told Marie about Carl, or her differences with her brothers. She was never very communicative about her own affairs, and when she came to the point, an instinct told her that about such things she and Marie would not understand one another.’
[Part III: Winter Memories, Chapter 1, page 1]

In this paragraph, Nature is described at its best. The beginning of winter is described with beauty which somehow is compared to the beauty of Alexander in and indirectly way. Winter is defined as the beginning of a new dawn. Amidst all the drama that was going on Alexandra’s life, it was time for her to recuperate. Just like her, nature transits from autumn to spring. Autumn is characterized with her fruitfulness and spring is barren. With this she is seen to hold herself back avoiding her friends. It can even be noted that she avoids from going to the Norwegian church so as not to meet them, just like winter separates spring and autumn. All she wants is her peace, maybe a new beginning.
The rabbits could be seen suffering moving from one whole to another in search for warmth. The ground also is noted to be frozen hence it would pain to walk on it. This shows a connection between Alexander and nature as Alexander is also suffering at the period. She is out of words and hiding in shame. She is not ready to face the world and is struggling with her decision of as to whether stay where she is or run from place to place. Just as the rabbits, she is running away from her problems, trying to look for a whole into which she would seek solace. Just as the winter had caused the ground to be lifeless, Alexander’s was feeling lifeless. People thought that she may have died because she was not replying anyone’s mails or meeting up with any of her friends.
There is a connection between Alexander and nature in the book as it could be noted that the writer is using nature to explain Alexander’s feelings at many instances.

Works Cited

Cather, Willa, and Barbara McCulloh. O, Pioneers. Charlotte Hall, Md: Recorded Books, 2005. Print.